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Re: Latin, the Enlightenment, and science
Posted:
Dec 28, 2009 4:04 AM
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In sci.lang Peter T. Daniels <grammatim@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> Is "continent" a technical term in geography?
>
Dunno. It is, however, widely used.
> Was "planet" a technical term in astronomy?
>
Yes. Not formally defined (except by enumeration), though.
> (Apparently it is now.)
...except of extrasolar planets, which by this definition are not
planets...
To which extent does a terminology make a part of the language of
science? And what about informal, but widely used terminology? It is an
open question for which I have no answer.
However, let's not leave out mathematics: many interesting fields, rings
and groups are defined by enumeration of their members, operations and
rules (see Boolean algebra for a simple one). Heck, even natural numbers
are defined by their "enumeration" in a sense (Peano axioms).
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